Thank you. Some people, including those among the communities EPA serve, complain about the bureaucracy, and at times nobody complained louder or more often than those of us working in the trenches. At the best of times, laws and regulations can be confusing and implementing them can be frustrating. But sometimes, maybe even most of the …
Thank you. Some people, including those among the communities EPA serve, complain about the bureaucracy, and at times nobody complained louder or more often than those of us working in the trenches. At the best of times, laws and regulations can be confusing and implementing them can be frustrating. But sometimes, maybe even most of the time, we managed to get the work done we were mandated to do in the way it was meant to be done.
What scares me most now is Trump wanting to do away with career federal workers and replace them with "loyalists." That is insanity. Appointed positions come and go (and I personally think there are far too many of them), but it may come as a surprise to some it is those career workers who keep the day to day business of the government going from administration to administration, not the political appointees. If you think government is chaotic now, and it sometimes is, imagine what it would be like if a new executive branch had to be created every four or eight years.
Robert, as a now retired public servant for 40+ years, I found Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk (2018) to peel back the lid on what many consider the “deep state” (not!) only to find dedicated workers keeping the ship of state afloat and on course. Its focus was to outline the transition between the Obama-to-Trump administrations, but the impact is really so much broader than that. I’ve posted my recommendation of his work (not just this book) here several times…but bears repeating. 👍👍 Check it out if you’ve not read it already.
The real Deep State and Swamp that Trump always yammers on about are actually Trump’s desires to use the Federal government and its institutions to benefit himself personally.
Thank you. Real "swamps" actually are very important elements of our world. Most of us are horrified at the idea of being in one. But all the organisms that thrive there are part of our water being filtered and little critters being bred...a complex web of life.
So yes, sewer is more appropriate. Cesspool, septic tank also make sense as descriptors.
…..and mitigate climate change, storm surges, floods…enhances the food chain….and on and on….we were slow to learn that fact. Am glad we, well most, have finally figured that out. Hopefully humankind will figure out how not to wreck Gaia before she decides to shake us off!🌎
Robert, while "laws and regulations can be confusing,” especially those regarding the environment and the planet on which we live, consider just how unimaginably complex our earth has become as it has evolved with us on it and just how easily we disrupt that fine ecological balance by all our human activities, especially our activities driven by profit motives! Perhaps our complex planet needs, even DESERVES complex and confusing regulations to protect it!
My father, a 1951 graduate of University of Michigan's "sanitary engineering" masters degree program, was hired by Dow Chemical to deal with their toxic wastes. Growing up, our Sunday afternoon drives included visits to his latest treatment pond or taller chimney. In 1983, Tom Brokaw announced on NBC News that my dad had met with the EPA's assistant director, Rita Lavelle, eleven times for lunch. By then my dad was the chief lobbyist for the Chemical Manufacturing Association, working with Anne Gorsuch's EPA staff. So, clearly, our government was in bed with industry to foul up efforts to set up Superfund. In actuality, chemical companies like Dow, which had been paying more to re-use wastes in its production whenever possiblle and treating the waste when it couldn't, needed a public agency to step in and order those clean up efforts for ALL chemical manufacturing contamination sites (level the playing field ) and a fair way to finance it. In his career, my dad was always between a rock and a hard place. But he prevented a "Love Canal" and a ""Bophal." And he thought little Neil Gorsuch was such a nice boy. Dad wrote a book he called, "Too Soon Green" but it has not been published. A Dow attorney said, "That book will NEVER be published," which of course, means it needs to be. About 5 years ago someone suggested we contact that well connected environmentalist, Robert F Kennedy, for help. One look at his Facebook page and I knew he was no help.
Thank you. Some people, including those among the communities EPA serve, complain about the bureaucracy, and at times nobody complained louder or more often than those of us working in the trenches. At the best of times, laws and regulations can be confusing and implementing them can be frustrating. But sometimes, maybe even most of the time, we managed to get the work done we were mandated to do in the way it was meant to be done.
What scares me most now is Trump wanting to do away with career federal workers and replace them with "loyalists." That is insanity. Appointed positions come and go (and I personally think there are far too many of them), but it may come as a surprise to some it is those career workers who keep the day to day business of the government going from administration to administration, not the political appointees. If you think government is chaotic now, and it sometimes is, imagine what it would be like if a new executive branch had to be created every four or eight years.
Robert, as a now retired public servant for 40+ years, I found Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk (2018) to peel back the lid on what many consider the “deep state” (not!) only to find dedicated workers keeping the ship of state afloat and on course. Its focus was to outline the transition between the Obama-to-Trump administrations, but the impact is really so much broader than that. I’ve posted my recommendation of his work (not just this book) here several times…but bears repeating. 👍👍 Check it out if you’ve not read it already.
The real Deep State and Swamp that Trump always yammers on about are actually Trump’s desires to use the Federal government and its institutions to benefit himself personally.
Yeah, his “swamp” (an ecosystem) is more aptly called a “sewer” (toxic waste) & he pulls his minions from the depths of the slime.
Thank you. Real "swamps" actually are very important elements of our world. Most of us are horrified at the idea of being in one. But all the organisms that thrive there are part of our water being filtered and little critters being bred...a complex web of life.
So yes, sewer is more appropriate. Cesspool, septic tank also make sense as descriptors.
…..and mitigate climate change, storm surges, floods…enhances the food chain….and on and on….we were slow to learn that fact. Am glad we, well most, have finally figured that out. Hopefully humankind will figure out how not to wreck Gaia before she decides to shake us off!🌎
Which is bottomless by the way...
👍
Thanks for the recommendation, Barbara. I shall seek out a copy.
Robert, while "laws and regulations can be confusing,” especially those regarding the environment and the planet on which we live, consider just how unimaginably complex our earth has become as it has evolved with us on it and just how easily we disrupt that fine ecological balance by all our human activities, especially our activities driven by profit motives! Perhaps our complex planet needs, even DESERVES complex and confusing regulations to protect it!
My father, a 1951 graduate of University of Michigan's "sanitary engineering" masters degree program, was hired by Dow Chemical to deal with their toxic wastes. Growing up, our Sunday afternoon drives included visits to his latest treatment pond or taller chimney. In 1983, Tom Brokaw announced on NBC News that my dad had met with the EPA's assistant director, Rita Lavelle, eleven times for lunch. By then my dad was the chief lobbyist for the Chemical Manufacturing Association, working with Anne Gorsuch's EPA staff. So, clearly, our government was in bed with industry to foul up efforts to set up Superfund. In actuality, chemical companies like Dow, which had been paying more to re-use wastes in its production whenever possiblle and treating the waste when it couldn't, needed a public agency to step in and order those clean up efforts for ALL chemical manufacturing contamination sites (level the playing field ) and a fair way to finance it. In his career, my dad was always between a rock and a hard place. But he prevented a "Love Canal" and a ""Bophal." And he thought little Neil Gorsuch was such a nice boy. Dad wrote a book he called, "Too Soon Green" but it has not been published. A Dow attorney said, "That book will NEVER be published," which of course, means it needs to be. About 5 years ago someone suggested we contact that well connected environmentalist, Robert F Kennedy, for help. One look at his Facebook page and I knew he was no help.